The Halifax Mooseheads dominated the Shawinigan Cataractes in every facet of the game on their way to an easy 6-3 win in front of 7,900 fans.

“We could’ve stepped it up a bit more with the little things,” said Halifax defenceman Brian Lovell. “But overall we played a good game. We kept the puck in their zone, played behind their defence and (had) good offence.”

The outcome wasn't much of a surprise, given the differences between the teams. The Mooseheads (44-6-2-1) are way out in front in the QMJHL overall standings, 56 points ahead of the 17th-place Cataractes (14-35-5-2). Shawinigan is rebuilding after going all out to win last year's Memorial Cup.

“Going into a game like that, it’s kind of different than if you’re going into a game against one of the higher seeded teams,” said Mooseheads defenceman Matt Murphy. “But you have to treat every team the same and you have to go in there with the confidence level that you can win just like you would in every other game.

“It is (hard to keep your focus), especially when you get up by a couple of goals. It was 4-1 at one point and you can kind of get away from your game. Some guys might try to get some points or try to do too much. But you’ve just got to keep playing your game and doing what you do best.”

Matthew Boudreau got the ball rolling for Halifax when he scored 6:19 into the first period and Jonathan Drouin made it 2-0 61 seconds later with a beautiful end-to-end effort.

Lovell notched his first career QMJHL goal early in the second period and Dominic Beauchemin made it 4-0 with a goal 1:40 later. The Cataractes only had one shot in the second period but made it count. Alex Pawelczyk scored at the 11:30 mark to cut Halifax's lead to 4-1.

J.C. Campagna scored on the Cataractes’ first shot of the third period to make it 4-2 but Boudreau and Murphy responded with two goals for Halifax in the next three minutes. Shawinigan’s Kris Hodge rounded out the scoring with a power-play goal in the dying seconds of the game.

Someone retrieved the puck for Lovell, who had four assists in 28 games prior to getting his goal.

“That felt amazing,” said Lovell, the game’s third star. “I’ve been playing since the beginning of the year but I’ve only played 29 games; today was my 29th game. It feels good to score my first goal.”

Backup goalie Chris Clarke also got a rare start but hardly saw any action. He only faced 11 shots in the Halifax net, while Hugo Campeau made 32 saves for Shawinigan.

“We played tight in the D zone, came back hard and the forwards did a good job tracking back,” Murphy said. “Overall it was a good game.”

Winger Andrew Ryan returned to the Halifax line-up after missing a month with a knee injury.

Drouin extended his points streak to 18 games. He has 37 points during that stretch. It is the longest points streak in the QMJHL this season.

“It’s fun watching him on the ice scoring those goals,” Drouin said. “They’re amazing goals and you just try to be on the ice with him at the same time.”

The Mooseheads host the Moncton Wildcats tonight. The Wildcats beat the Mooseheads 8-5 last Friday in Moncton.

“It is a big game,” Murphy said. “We’ve been waiting to get them back ever since last week. It’s good that we get to have them as quick as we do, just a week away, so we know how to play them and show them what we’re all about.”